Jeb Bush, Jindal to join forces in ad

Jeb Bush and Bobby Jindal appear in a commercial that will air Sunday to promote NewRepublican.org, a project focused on outlining a positive GOP agenda for the future.

The former Florida governor and the current Louisiana governor, both potential 2016 presidential candidates, support a super PAC that is the brainchild of Republican strategist Alex Castellanos.

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“If you believe that every parent ought to be able to choose their child’s school, and that the economy should be driven from the bottom up, not the top down from Washington, then you’re thinking like a New Republican,” Bush says to the camera at the start of the 30-second spot, shared first with POLITICO.

“If you don’t think the Republican Party should be the party of big government, big business or big anything, you’re thinking like a New Republican,” adds Jindal.

Castellanos created the group last year after the party’s losses in 2012, when he felt there was too much focus on attacking Barack Obama without a clear vision for where conservatives want to take the country.

“Being the party that says ‘don’t touch the hot stove’ only gets us so far. We have to cook something,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. “Burning the other guy’s house down is fine, but we need to build a house that gives people a better place to live.”

The group has already raised a half-million dollars, and GOP megadonor Al Hoffman hosted a fundraiser for it at his North Palm Beach home Thursday night. Co-hosts included Cathy Bailey, who is likely to run for governor of Kentucky next year, American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas and operative Ana Navarro.

The ad featuring Bush and Jindal will air in the Washington market during each of the Sunday shows, and nationally on Fox News Sunday. It is a modest buy, with the goal to reach GOP donors and thought leaders. Castellanos hopes to run more commercials in the run-up to 2016.